Millions of Hindus gather at the Ganges in India for the Maha Kumbh Mela

Upwards of a million Hindu holy men and pilgrims took a bracing plunge in
India's sacred Ganges river to wash away lifetimes of sins on Monday, in a
raucous start to an ever-growing religious gathering that is already the
world's largest. Once every 12 years, tens of millions of pilgrims from
across India stream to the small city of Allahabad for the Maha Kumbh Mela,
or Grand Pitcher Festival, at the point where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers
meet with a third, mythical river.